1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a capsule sealing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for sealing the seams between the caps and bodies of capsules containing powdery, granular, or liquid pharmaceutics, foodstuffs, or the like so that the caps and bodies cannot be separated from each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
In the prior art, powdery, granular, or liquid pharmaceutics have been charged in capsules made of hard gelatin so that patients can swallow them with ease. The capsules of hard gelatin have a hollow cylindrical body to be charged with contents, and a hollow cylindrical cap, having a slightly larger diameter than body, to be combined with one end portion of the body. The body is fitted in the cap after the body is charged with contents.
When the contents in the capsules are in a liquid or fine particle form, the contents are likely to leak from the spaces at the seams between the caps and the bodies.
In recent years, illegalities have been reported where the caps have been separated from the bodies of capsules and the contents adulterated with foreign matters. Therefore, after capsules are charged with contents, the seams between the caps and the bodies of the capsules are sealed so that the caps cannot be separated from the bodies.
There have been disclosed apparatuses for automatically sealing charged capsules, one of which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-946 in which many slats on which a plurality of capsules are mounted in row are horizontally conveyed successively, while the seams of the capsules mounted on respective slats are automatically sealed. The many slats in the aforesaid capsule sealing apparatus are connected with each other in an endless chain so as to circulate. Each slat has a plurality of capsule resting slits for accommodating capsules aligned in a direction orthogonal to the circulating route, and is horizontally moved in a horizontal posture, after which the slat is moved in the opposite direction below the moving area thereof.
The capsules charged with contents are successively fed into respective capsule resting slits of each slat with their caps and bodies aligned in the same direction, respectively. Each capsule resting slit is open at its bottom, and capsules in respective slits are supported by a supporting plate separate from the slats, and the capsules in each slit of a slat are horizontally conveyed while rolling on the supporting plate by the movement of each slat.
Thus, the capsules accommodated in the slits of each slat are conveyed while rotating on their axes, and are coated with a sealing liquid in a sealing liquid vessel along the seams between the bodies and caps by means of a coating roller partially submerged in the sealing liquid. Then, while each slat is circulated, the sealing liquid is dried, thereby sealing the seam of each capsule.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 3-12160 discloses another apparatus for automatically sealing a capsule using many slats. The many slats in the aforesaid capsule sealing apparatus are annularly arranged within a horizontal plane around a chain running on a pair of horizontal sprockets, and the circulation of the chain circulates the slates always in their horizontal posture. Each slat has a plurality of slits with openings at their bottoms that can accommodate a plurality of capsules aligned in a direction orthogonal to the circulating route.
Capsules charged with contents are successively fed into the capsule resting slits of each slat with the caps and bodies aligned in the same direction, respectively. The capsules in respective capsule resting slits are horizontally conveyed by the movement of each slat to pass over a coating roller, in the course of which the coating roller comes in contact with the seams of the capsules in the slits through the openings at the bottoms of the slits. This causes the capsules to rotate on their axes, and to be coated with a sealing liquid along the seams thereof. The capsules coated with the sealing liquid are dried during the circulation of each slat, thus sealing the seam.
In these conventional capsule sealing apparatuses employing many slats, it is necessary that the velocity at which the slats circulate is increased so as to increase the number of capsules to be treated per hour. However, if the velocity is increased, the capsules pass through the area where the sealing liquid applied on the capsules is dried at high speed. Therefore, it is necessary that the drying area is increased in order to ensure the time for drying the sealing liquid. If the drying area is increased, the number of slats is also increased. However, the slats for retaining capsules require a minute structure in any capsule sealing apparatuses mentioned above, resulting in a high manufacturing cost. The increase in number of slats having a minute structure also leads to loss in cost, and requires a lot of time for adjusting each slat.